Trapped in a Warehouse
by Tsurt Emit
Summary: Because of Rufus, Nina and Amber are trapped in the warehouse. Fabian searches for them. Amber is able to escape but hurts her head in the process. She forgets everything. Certainly Fabina in a later chapter. Read. Review. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Stuck! Nina and Amber were stuck in the stupid warehouse!

Nina sighed. This was all her fault; she shouldn't have convinced Amber to come to this sketchy place! True. They had found Patricia, but by now, Patricia could be anywhere with Rufus. And Nina and Amber were slowly starving.

Admittedly, it had only been several hours since they had gotten locked in by Rufus (according to their cell phones that were only good for telling time now that they lost cell service in the heavy metal building.)

Amber had screamed for the first half hour while Nina combed the place for something useful to aid in their escape.

"Boxes, blankets, ooohh- here's a metal pipe!" Nina said as she yanked the pipe from its rusty attachment on the wall. She began to repeatedly bang it on the door. Over. And over.

After a good solid five minutes of trying to knock it down, Nina slumped in the chair.

"My hands hurt," was all she could say.

"Too bad the stupid door doesn't have hinges," said the surprisingly insightful Amber.

Amber was pacing as she claimed to be claustrophobic. She was no longer screaming and after the initial freak out- she was surprisingly calm.

"Someone will come for us," she said nodding- trying to convince herself, "won't they?"

Nina had no answer. No one knew where they were.

* * *

Fabian still didn't know where Nina and Amber were and he was starting to get worried. Alfie and Jerome were no help. When he asked them at supper if they had seen them- they just spoke of horses and polishing silverware.

He left the House and decided to go to the clearing where Patricia was supposed to have met Joy the other night. He searched for clues of where they could be until the sun was well below the horizon.

His heart began to beat faster and faster in worry for the girls. When it got too dark he prayed that they were already back at the House. But when he walked into the common room, his heart sunk.

"Has anyone seen Nina and Amber?" He asked in true alarm.

No one said anything. Not even Trudy. He took this as a terrible confirmation that they were still missing. Victor didn't seem concerned. On the contrary- he took the same cold manner of 'everything being under control' as when he had talked about Patricia being with her fake Aunt and Uncle.

Fabian went upstairs and started forming a plan. It was 8:45pm- he grabbed his pillows and put them in his bed so it looked like he was already in it- sleeping. And wearing all black, he snuck back outside to search for them.

He was walking for only a few moments when he saw two dark shapes also flitting through the night across campus and heading towards the clearing. At first, in his excitement, he nearly shouted out, "NINA! AMBER!" but he noticed something strange about the forms that he saw. So instead- he followed.

* * *

Amber and Nina were in no better condition that earlier. In fact- they were much worse. They were very, very hungry. Nina had insisted that they ration the hamburger considering they might be stuck there for a while. So they each had only had a miniscule bite in all of those hours.

Nina was still going through all of the objects in the warehouse- particularly ones that could be used for their protection if Rufus came back. He was a dangerous man, she just knew it.

After Nina and Amber really had nothing else to say about their situation (other than how much it sucked)- they went quiet for a long while. Nina lay on the floor and Amber now took the chair. As she looked up- she saw something, that gave her an idea.

"Amber! Look! There's a hatch up there!" She said pointing at the ceiling.

"Maybe- if we can reach it- and escape!" Nina jumped up as she began stacking boxes to stand on to reach thier only hope of escape.

Within minutes, all the boxes that were movable for two teenage girls were placed underneath the hatch and stacked strategically. Unfortunately – it wasn't enough. Nina realized that only one person would be able to leave because the other person would have to give a boost up from the very top box. She would feel bad being the first person to leave, considering she was the one who made Amber come in the warehouse. Thus, she explained the situation to Amber,

"Only one of us can get out of here, so the other can open the door from the outside! I'll give you a boost and be careful when you get on the roof."

They tried and tried. Amber just couldn't seem to get out the hatch. After much pushing, Amber used Nina's shoulders to leap out of the hatch. However, the momentum was too much. She flew out the hatch, and began to slide off the roof.

Nina heard a loud shriek and a rolling then a loud, "THUNK" on the front side of the building.

"Amber! Are you ok?" She yelled.

She got no response. How was she supposed to know that Amber was lying unconscious outside the warehouse? Nina was totally helpless as she yelled to her friend.

A half hour later, Amber would wake up and woozily make her way to the woods in an almost drunken state- unable to remember a thing.


	2. Chapter 2

Fabian followed the dark shapes to the clearing. Exactly where he thought they were going!

He stood behind a tree and waited. When he got tired of standing, he got down on his stomach in an 'army crawl' position, never taking his eyes off the shapes. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he decided that the faces of those he was spying on were very unusual. He decided that they must be wearing some sort of masks.

Another dark shape appeared, but he could clearly make out the human features. He appeared to be towing a slightly smaller shape behind him. When they got a little closer he recognized the smaller shape to be Patricia and the bigger shape was Rufus.

His mind was racing as he watched. He heard both of the groups arguing. He couldn't make out anything until they began to yell.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE THE BETRAYER! You HAVE to give back our PUPIL- this is COMPLETELY OFF LIMITS!" Yelled a woman's voice from underneath one the masks. Upon hearing the voice, Fabian had enough sense to realize that the masked woman was his teacher.

Fabian saw more negotiating and nodding of heads. He secretly rooted for the masked side since he saw that they were trying to help Patricia. He watched the masked side take out a vile of some liquid.

Rufus shook his head and reached for his pocket. Fabian stifled a gasp as he saw that Rufus had a gun and was now holding it to Patricia's head.

There were more negotiations and Rufus lowered the gun- momentarily. The masked side was now pleading. But suddenly, Fabian saw another dark shape jump out of the shadows and expertly knock the gun out of Rufus's hands. It was VICTOR! Fabian was breathing quickly, wide-eyed as he watched this all unfold as if it were a high action film.

Victor yanked Patricia over with the masked teachers and began talking loudly so that Fabian could hear again,

"You have failed! Again! Why even try?" Victor mocked.

Rufus only chuckled as he reached into his boot and pulled out a smaller gun. The teachers and Victor in response all stood in front of Patricia. Surprisingly, Rufus lowered his gun.

"Failed have I? You think you have gotten all of your pupils back? THINK AGAIN! I have two more girls from the House of Anubis! How long do you think you can keep your pathetic little school running with TWO missing students? You wouldn't want anything… happening to them… Would we? Then you would lose the House forever!" Rufus shot back as the group, cutting every word sharply.

Fabian's heart sunk at this news.

"Don't you DARE think of following me," he said finally twirling his gun as he backed into the forest and out of sight.

In the silence that followed, Fabian realized that Victor would soon be making his way back to the House; Fabian had to beat Victor back. Or else, he would be locked out again. As thoughts rushed through his head- he couldn't decide on what course of action he would take once back in the House. He still feared for Nina. Oh. And Amber.

Lost in thought, he bumped into someone. They both yelled until Fabian realized it was Amber herself! But she wasn't Amber-ish. Her hair was a mess, and her pink coat was ripped and dirty. Moreover, she continued screaming long after he stopped.

"Amber! Shut up!" he said loudly, scared that their yelling would carry far enough to reach Victor and the Teachers.

"Fabian- oh, I love Mick. WWVBD? Because I hate biology. I can NOT room with Mara anymore. Victor killed a cat, I'm so scared. Sibuna…." Amber strung random phrases together as she hazily stumbled back to where she came from.

Fabian was unable to reason with her, so instead led her back to the House. Once inside, he sat her down in a common room chair and Victor came in only five minutes after them. Patricia was nowhere in sight.

"What are you doing up? It is well past 10:00!" He said narrowing his eyes at Fabian. Then he caught sight of Amber.

"What is this?" he said demanding an explanation.

Fabian made up a half-truth, so as not to let Victor know what he had been doing earlier, "She came to the door of the House looking like this! I can't reason with her. I think something is wrong with her head."

"Go to your room and I will deal with this," replied Victor.

As Fabian walked (very slowly) up the stairs, he heard Victor calling for Trudy.

"Yes?" replied Trudy, probably still cleaning dishes in the kitchen.

"Please take Miss. Amber to the hospital- it would seem that something is terribly wrong with her." he commanded.

After this exchange, Fabian walked to his room and was brushing his teeth and TRYING to calm down when he heard a knock at his door.

Mick groaned and Fabian quickly rushed to open it.

"You two," he barked, "Common Room. Now."

They obeyed. Soon everyone in the House was sleepily assembled in their PJs.

"What is this about?" asked Jerome grumpily.

"House rules calls for a nighttime head count at some point so that we can be sure that everyone is where they should be," he explained dismissively.

Fabian knew two things: (1) Victor would have only answered that question for Jerome. Victor liked him best. (2) Victor MUST be trying to figure out who was missing from the Anubis House.

Fabian looked around, desperately hoping Nina would walk down the stairs with her signature smile.

He wished this whole night was just a big joke.

But when he turned to talk to someone, he realized the only one he wanted to discuss this freaky night with was Nina. But she wasn't there.

If Fabian knew that Nina was actually in the trunk of Rufus's car, he probably would have jumped into action. But Fabian didn't know.

As he sat with his friends in the common room, he tried to convince himself that Victor would try to help her- just as he did Patricia. But little did he know that Victor adamantly protested against giving into Rufus' demands. Victor and the teachers would just have to settle with giving the police (their allies) the job of finding her.

* * *

Nina's POV**

After the Amber incident, Nina knew something was wrong. She knew Amber would NEVER leave without her on purpose. So she yelled and yelled until she fell asleep.

Nina was rudely awakened with the slamming of a door outside. She scrambled in the pitch black warehouse for the pipe she had used to try to break down the door and crawled quietly to a corner in an attempt at hiding.

She heard the door open and watched long shadows fell across the room. She hoped desprately that he would not spot her in the dark and maybe he'd just assume that she had escaped. But all hope for this was lost when he flipped on the lights.

Nina's eyes burned and she instinctively shielded her eyes.

She saw Rufus' shape coming towards her- and she tried to weld the pipe. But his larger body easily pinned her to the ground.

She found herself being gagged and bound as he muttered to himself,

"Only one girl? The other escaped? Fine then, I'm not taking any chances this time."

She tried to resist but he was able to pull her out to his truck and throw her in the trunk.

Before he slammed the trunk, she heard him repeat again, "I'm not taking any chances this time."


	3. Chapter 3

"There! That's where he was keeping me! And where he locked Nina and Amber!" Patricia yelled in shadows of the night as she pointed her escorts to the abandoned warehouse.

Patricia had immediately led the two masked figures to the warehouse after the creepy exchange in the woods. However, the expedition proved fruitless. Nina and Amber were gone.

Patricia was close to flying off the handle.

First Joy. Now this? Her escorts in masks could clearly see this inner turmoil going on inside Patricia, and when she was not looking, they injected her in the back of the arm. It was a concoction that eased the mind and helped erase thoughts and memories. It was not always perfect, but worked well enough. They had given the very injection to Alfie when he was in the hospital when they suspected he knew too much about their secret society.

Meanwhile Nina was being taken out of the trunk of the car and led to what appeared to be a shed. The car ride had a lot of turns, causing her to faintly hope that they had been going in circles and loops just to throw her off.

He pushed her down inside the shed, being rougher to her than he had been with Patricia. He didn't want Nina getting the idea that he could bully him as Patricia tried to do. Plus, he was rapidly losing his patience.

He un-gagged her and glared at her with his sharp blue eyes.

Nina was intimidated and had no idea what this strange man would do to her. She tried to face him confidently, but she couldn't. She looked down, scared. She wanted her Gran.

"I want to go home," she said quietly. Her voice breaking.

"Give me your necklace."

Nina sighed in relief, "I don't have it." She said as calmly as she could. She had cleverly hidden it when she and Amber were stuck in the warehouse because she feared that he would come and take it from her.

"Who does?" he said gritting his teeth.

"My friend," she invented.

"What friend?" He demanded. And when she didn't respond he shook her by the shoulders, "WHAT FRIEND?"

She hadn't prepared to give him an actual answer and tears came out of her eyes as she held her own as he continued to shake her.

He took a deep breath and regained his 'cool.'

"No matter. I have time. I will find who has it," he said rubbing his temples.

And with that he tied her up to a folding chair that was literally the only thing in the shed. And he left her. She scooted and twisted and yelled but finally realized that it was completely useless. The whole 'getting-tied-up- to-a-chair-thing' that she always saw in the movies- was actually pretty effective.

So she did the only thing left to do. She slumped her head over and tried to fall back asleep- telling herself repeatedly not to think (hungrily) of the hamburger that was probably still sitting in the warehouse.

When Fabian got up the next day, he was set on skipping classes to look for Nina. However, as soon as he walked downstairs he found a teacher waiting with Victor in the hallway.

Apparently they were no longer allowed to travel by themselves. They must travel to and from classes as a group AND with a teacher to escort them. Victor told them that Amber and Patricia were both in the hospital recovering, but from exactly WHAT- he wouldn't say.

So the day passed; him, Mick, Mara, Alfie, and Jerome all traveling together and trying to whisper about these events without letting the teachers hear their suspicions.

Fabian tried to leave once to 'go to the bathroom' (in an attempt to sneak out) but the same teacher he saw that morning talking to Victor followed him out and literally stood outside the men's bathroom door- waiting for him to return.

All day it went like this! Fabian had never been so frustrated in his life! He couldn't concentrate in any of his classes. A whole day wasted! Poor Nina could be anywhere. He thought miserably. Why did this happen to her? Why couldn't it have been him instead?

He couldn't wait for nighttime. After Victor called for lights out, Fabian leapt for the window. He tried to slide it open, but couldn't. He called Mick over, who was more than willing to help. But the two teenage boys couldn't open it.

Upon closer inspection, Fabian saw that a metal bar had been installed to prevent the opening of the windows. He inwardly cursed, and decided to wait a bit to try to sneak out past midnight.

He couldn't sleep; finally at 1:00pm he slipped out of bed. He snuck out of his room and creaked down the hallway. He looked up at Victor's study and saw that the light was off. As he turned back to the door he found that Victor himself was standing in his way.

Fabian jumped backwards.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF BED?" he asked dangerously.

Fabian stuttered and decided to pull 'an Amber,' "I'm sleepwalking. And I'm hungry!" and he turned towards the kitchen and began walking towards it.

"GET TO BED!" Victor yelled. Fabian switched courses and speedily returned to his room.

"Don't let me EVER catch you doing that AGAIN," Victor bellowed down the halls.

"Fine. I won't let you _**catch me**_doing that again," Fabian muttered as he flopped on his bed.

Nina had spent the day in the shed. She only left twice when Rufus allowed her to go to a secluded bathroom, but otherwise her day was uneventful.

Rufus wasn't that terrible of a kidnaper. Nina had feared that she would not get to eat. But Rufus brought her a biscuit for breakfast and a ham sandwich for dinner. But the best part, was the he gave her a toothbrush and fresh clothes when she went to the bathroom the second time.

She excitedly made plans to turn the toothbrush into a sharp weapon, but he took it away right after she used it.

She decided that it could be worse, but her situation was seemingly dire. She ached from sitting in the same (un-adjustable) position all day. And the ropes hurt, because sometimes he re-tied her tighter than he had earlier.

The worst was the confusion though. She didn't know where she was or what he had planned for her. No one knew where she was now that he had moved her. She couldn't say; "Oh! Only four hours left of being kidnapped and sitting in these ropes!" No. For all she knew, she could spend days, weeks, or months like this.

She wanted someone to come for her. Her thoughts frequently went back to Amber, Patricia, and Fabian. Her only hopes.

She didn't know where Patricia was – maybe he killed her. Nina shuddered at the thought and tried not to cry when she thought about it. Additionally, Amber seemed to have disappeared without a trace. After this, her only hope rested with Fabian. So she sometimes yelled his name or shouted "HELP!"

But, once when she was screaming, Rufus came back and shouted at her for screaming. He pulled out a handgun and threatened her to stay quiet. After this, she didn't make a peep.

The next day went like the day before for Fabian. He couldn't break away. At breakfast, he asked Trudy for tools, but she informed Fabian that Victor held those and he would have to ask him for them.

Fabian figured that wouldn't work so well, so instead, during biology lab- he smuggled a wide variety of lab tools in his bag to use for later.

That night, he brought the tools out. With Mick holding up a flashlight, Fabian managed to pry off the metal bar that blocked his escape. It took over an hour, but it worked.

Then, the boys slid open the window. Since the room was on the lower floor, the jump wasn't so bad. Fabian told Mick to stay in the room and to let him back in when he knocked on his window. Mick readily agreed. He was tired of holding up the flashlight and wasn't ready to face Victor's wrath. Mick threw down Fabian's backpack and watched Fabian walk off campus.

Fabian's eyes adjusted (so he wouldn't be forced into using a flashlight) and he began to circle the campus. Finding nothing, not a hint. He went to the woods. Those would take all night. But he was ready to do that. He walked for hours, circling and searching for some clue of where Nina could be. Fabian's clock on his phone was ticking. Midnight passed, then one, two, three, four, and then five. Fabian was practically limping through the woods now but his eyes refused to close.

After hours of natural silence, an engine coughed in the distance. It could be anything, but Fabian, desperate for some viable clue moved quickly toward the source of the sound.

He stopped when he saw a car move to a halt a little bit always from a small hut- a shed- he realized.

Ducking behind some trees, he was reminded of a few nights ago when he had witnessed the forest exchange with Patricia, Rufus, Victor, and the teachers.

He saw a man get out of the truck. Wait, not just a man- but Rufus! He saw no sign of Nina though, which worried him. But then- Rufus went to the trunk and opened it. He was handed what looked like a toothbrush and toothpaste and a washcloth by some unseen person in the trunk. Then Rufus pulled out some rope and began working.

Fabian's heart raced. Sure enough, Rufus soon drug a tied-up girl out of the trunk. Fabian recognized Nina's long hair swishing as Rufus drug her to the shed.

Outside the shed, she stopped and shook her head. Rufus whispered something into her ear and she visibly slumped. They both went in, and a few minutes later, Rufus emerged without Nina. Rufus got in his car, and left.

**What happens next? Next chapter comes soon. **

**PS- reviews inspire me to write faster.**


	4. Chapter 4

As Nina watched Rufus leave the shed, she felt hope seep out of her. He had just taken her to the bathroom where she attempted to wash herself using the measly sink. No one was at that park at that hour- that was the point to getting up so early.

And Rufus deposited her back into the shed, where he tied her a bit tighter than last time. She slumped down uncomfortably in her folding chair and felt tears well up in her eyes again and miserably wished she were far from there.

She was quickly aroused from her thoughts when she heard a loud creak, and saw someone standing in the door frame. Expecting Rufus, she was utterly surprised to find it was Fabian!

She gasped and was midway through yelling, "FAB-!" when he rushed to her and kissed her full in the mouth. Fabian seemed to forget that Nina was tied to a chair and frankly Nina did too. A few tears streamed down her face as he continued to move his lips over hers.

But all too soon he remembered where they were. He pulled his head back and apologized, his face turning red.

"I'm, I'm, I'm so happy to see you Nina," he said trying to explain his behavior.

She smiled in agreement, "Fabian, please, let's get out of here before Rufus comes back," she begged.

Fabian began working on un-tying the ropes that bound her to the chair.

"How long have you been in here?" he asked.

"Only two days," she said trying to sound nonchalant.

"Two days? Of THIS? That's terrible!" Fabian replied, scandalized.

"Are you done with those knots yet?" she asked, ready to be free.

"I'm trying!" he replied trying to work as fast as he could. Then he thought of something else,

"Nina?" he asked carefully, "he didn't… um… hurt you, did he?"

She understood the implication. "Luckily no- I was scared for that though. He did take a handgun out once though. I totally thought that I was a goner," she said, her voice moving up and down in dark emotions.

Fabian shook his head. He was semi-relieved. But mad at Rufus. If he ever saw him again, he didn't know what he'd do!

Fabian gave up on the knots and grabbed a biology scalpel from his bag and sawed at the rope as he and Nina continued to talk.

Fabian explained what happened to Amber and Patricia. Nina was sorry to hear they were in the hospital, but was so happy that Patricia wasn't dead that she literally laughed. They both shared their stories and eagerly discussed theories on why Rufus had kidnapped the girls.

Fabian kept looking at Nina, so happy that she was alive and well. He saw that these few days had been hard on her, since she had a constant crease on her forehead. She also looked a little sallow that must have something to do with the fact that she was probably hungry and had been in the dark for several days straight. But as the morning light streamed in through the shed doors, he saw her face turn from a pale white to the pinker color of her natural complexion.

Despite all she had been through, she was smiling now at Fabian.

"There!" he cried when he finished sawing the ropes with the scalpel.

Nina could have kissed him again, but didn't. She didn't want to make things too awkward- since they weren't even going out. Plus, she was eager to get as far away from the dreaded shed as soon as possible. Fabian helped her up and together they left the shed.

In the fresh, yellow morning light, they walked through the forest. They progressed slowly, though, because Nina was a bit wobbly from all those solid hours of sitting.

Suddenly, Fabian stopped. "WAIT! We need to rescue your necklace. Who knows what could happen if that gets in the wrong hands," he said seriously.

Nina had to agree. Though more than anything she wanted to make her way back to the House and recover, she settled instead for leading Fabian to the abandoned warehouse where she hid the necklace.

Fabian saw that she was having problems walking so he put an arm around her waist and supported her.

"Not a lot of sleep- huh?" he asked conversationally.

"Nope, too scared. Every time I feel asleep, it felt like I would fall right into a nightmare," Fabian was a sympathetic guy who projected himself into the situation. He imagined how terrible it would be to be kidnapped. Her real life was worse than any nightmare.

"You?" she teased, not expecting the answer he would give.

"Zero hours of sleep in the past three days," he responded cheerfully.

"No way. You'd be dead."

"It's true! I haven't slept at all since you've been kidnapped,"

Nina faintly blushed but quickly paled again. She saw that they were already at the abandoned warehouse and felt a now-natural aversion to the place.

"You don't have to go in, I could retrieve the necklace," Fabian said reading her thoughts.

"It'll only take a minute," she said shaking her head.

"I'll come with you then," he replied.

And with that they walked in. But upon looking at the warehouse closely, she noticed that something was different. The boxes were gone along with the chair and blankets. All that was left were some pipes and splintered pieces of wood.

Nina headed straight to the corner where she hid the necklace, suddenly fearful that it was gone. But she didn't have to worry, because it was still there tucked in the natural crevice the floor made with the wall.

"Fabian! Look! I have the necklace!" She cried. Then they both walked toward the door. But before they could leave, Rufus jumped in front of the door and blocked their exit.

Nina screamed.

Fabian stepped protectively in front of her. Why did Rufus have to show up now? Recalling his anger toward the cursed man, he recognized that he couldn't do anything because Rufus was holding his handgun.

"Oh good. Thanks for finding the necklace for me," Rufus said cockily, nodding for Nina to give it to him.

Nina hesitated, but tossed the necklace over.

"Good. Good," said Rufus contentedly scanning the scene before him. And without another word, Rufus closed heavy metal door. With two loud "clunks," Fabian and Nina knew that the door was now locked and they were trapped in the warehouse.

**

* * *

**

_**Next Chapter Coming Soon! **_

_**Again, constructive reviews REALLY DO make me write faster. **_

**Responses to some reviews:**

**Ashley and TheTroopandGACFan: If there is one thing that I hate- it would be cliffhangers! (I hate to use them because it makes me feel hypocritical :P) Sorry I keep leaving off with those but the show does it that way (which is SO frustrating)! :] **

**Water Wolf 100 and E-nony-mouse: Wow! That was exactly the direction I was heading! Hopefully that doesn't mean I'm being too predictable, though. **


	5. Chapter 5

"No!" Yelled Fabian when they heard the outside locks clunk into place.

And then there was silence. The room was dim, but certainly not dark. Nina and Fabian looked at each other in explicit horror.

After a beat, they both said at the exact same time; "This is all my fault."

Nina's serious face broke when she snickered at this.

Fabian felt terrible though. He had led Nina right back into a trap! And they could be stuck for hours, days even! Rufus may have locked them in there for good, and may never come back!

He began pacing around and starting talking of escape routes. After finding that there were no easy ways, he started thinking of building something out of the materials available. Unfortunately, the wood was all moldy and most of it broke when any weight was put on it. Most of the pipes were connected to the ground, rooted and concrete and therefore unusable. He even checked the tiny bathroom connected to the warehouse but nothing was movable.

Nina explained her old escape route, which Fabian thought was very ingenious, but there was no way they could reach the hatch now.

As Fabian rapidly moved around the warehouse considering escape methods, Nina decided to sit on the ground and to rest. To Nina, things could be way worse. Compared to the past few days, she wasn't in that bad of a situation. She felt a bit guilty that she was happy that Fabian was with her.

Finally Fabian, at an utter loss, came quietly back to where Nina was, and sat down next to her. She patted him on the back,

"We'll think of something," she said trying to be positive.

"I feel so bad," was all he could mutter, looking down at the floor tracing dust patterns with his finger.

"It really isn't your fault. Let's not play the blame game," she said trying to stay strong. Fabian was a pretty brave guy, but this whole kidnapping thing was new to him and he certainly looked miserable.

She didn't know how long they sat in silence at the center of the warehouse, but after a while, they both nodded off to sleep. When Nina awoke, she was curled up next to Fabian, her head on his chest. He had an arm around her as he slept.

Nina quietly sat, comforted that he was there with her. He watched his face and could tell his was in a deep sleep. When she looked at him, she saw all the wonderful things in him that made him her best friend- all that made him Fabian. She saw in him a true friend- someone who wanted to protect and help her always. Hadn't he already proven that by finding her when no one else could? He was her conscience and was always giving her a smile. Tugging at the back of her mind was a sense of guilt that she had gotten someone as good as Fabian into this situation.

The feeling was shoved aside when her stomach growled. She slowly got up, and got some water from the sink in the bathroom, but it didn't help. So instead, she decided to keep busy to keep her mind off of everything else.

She worked on the problem at hand. She collected all the available pipes and lined them up in a corner. There weren't many. She studied the materials carefully like a math problem. She tinkered here and there trying different strategies as Fabian slept.

She would give up, but then have another idea and come straight back to looking for a solution. The day continued like this. She realized Fabian wasn't kidding earlier; he must not have gotten any sleep because he was obviously dead tired.

Nina was getting uncharacteristically frustrated as she ran out of ideas. She spent the better half of the afternoon constructing a series of pyramids out of wood with the pipes stacked, log cabin style on top. The object was to grab a large pipe angled out from the ceiling and somehow use that to reach the hatch.

She carefully climbed up and began reaching for the pipe. But she heard splintering of wood and felt the poles tumble beneath her feet. She and her creation flew to the floor with a crash.

Fabian woke up to that and immediately jumped to his feet.

"Nina!" he yelled, "are you ok?"

Through the haze of dust, he found her sitting at the center of poles and broken wood crying, her back to the wall.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

She just shook her head, a few tears coming out of her eyes. Fabian sat next to her and lightly dusted off her shoulders and boldly moved the hair out of her face as she shuttered uncontrollably.

Fabian was almost relieved to see her cry. She had taken the getting trapped in a warehouse all so nonchalantly before, and he had felt like a complete wimp. Now he could see this was hard on her too. He desperately wanted to make her feel better.

He remembered that girls liked to talk about their feelings so all he could think to say was, "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head but a minute later she said, with her voice cracking, "I'm just so frustrated. I don't want to think about any of this anymore."

"Then what should we think about?" Fabian asked.

"I guess we can start by talking about something," she suggested.

"About what?" he prompted.

"You," she decided after a moment. She wanted to know more about her darling friend who saved her from the terrible shed.

"Ok," he said waiting.

"So what are your likes, dislikes, and give a brief summary of your life," Fabian laughed and then started to talk about the books he liked and then how he played guitar. He spoke of science class and history class and his hate for chocolate with almonds in it.

"Yah, but what about your high school life?" Nina asked when she found that he was only giving generic explanations.

"What do you mean?"

"Like the people in it; your best friends, your girlfriends, your family," she explained.

"Ok, I'm an only child and my parent are awesome," he said ticking off a finger.

"Best friends? That's difficult, Mick probably," he hesitated as he ticked off another finger. He had always been a bit of a loner in the House. Everyone always had their best friend, and he was always the odd one out… that is, until Nina came. Before her, he and Mick had been roommates, but Mick left midway through the year and only recently came back. Mick was his best mate, but he was always focusing too much on girls.

He knew the answer to the next question, but honestly didn't want to own up to it.

"Girlfriends?" Nina prompted.

"How about you?" he countered instead of responding. Realizing right after he said it, that the question could be taken as 'did you have any boy friends?'

"No boyfriends," she replied honestly.

Suddenly Fabian seemed to realize how close they were.

Fabian pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ears, and looked deeply into her eyes. For the first time he realized how beautiful eyes could be. He had always thought that commenting on eyes was just a front for romance. But maybe, he thought, you had to be in love to discover the real beauty of eyes.

And with this, Fabian realized that he did love Nina Martin and he wanted her very much.

His lips met hers for the second time in two days. But this time, instead being a kiss of relieved joy, this was composed of many emotions. Desperation with a hint of longing characterized this kiss. She responded with equal passion as she ran her fingers through his short hair and rested one on the back of his neck and the other on the side of his face.

He slid an arm around her waist as and put the other hand up against the wall behind Nina to support himself as he leaned in to her.

Faintly, Fabian could hear an engine running but was too distracted to care what it was.

Nina pushed him away and said in a whisper, but breathing loudly, "Fabian. What is that noise?"

They both got up and crept towards the door. And sure enough, the door swung open.

Nina and Fabian froze as Rufus strolled in.

"Why" he began dangerously, "does the necklace not work?" He whipped the necklace out of his pocket, walked over, and shoved it directly in front of Nina's face.

"Uhh…" began Nina.

"I broke it," blurted Fabian. He didn't want Rufus knowing that Nina was the only one who could work it.

"You can't break it," Rufus shot back skeptically.

Nina invented wildly, "No! Give me this morning's newspaper and I can get it working," she said.

Rufus looked confused for a moment, but nodded and backed out of the warehouse and to his car. Nina kicked a pipe in between the door so that it did not shut completely. She shook her head in disbelief- Rufus really was an amateur kidnapper.

She and Fabian left the warehouse and stood around the corner. They watched Rufus walk in and got out of their hiding spot and locked Rufus in the warehouse.

Rufus banged on the door.

"Slide the necklace underneath the door crack and we'll let you go," Nina said as Fabian shook his head adamantly.

Rufus didn't seem to have any choice, so he did so.

"Are you going to let me out?" Rufus yelled in annoyance.

"Nope," said Nina, "I was just retrieving my rightful property. Now if you excuse us, we are going to call the police. See you around. Or not!" yelled Nina from the outside of the door.

She dared not hope that the whole episode was over. She still worried about the well being of Amber and Patricia. But as she walked away hand in hand with Fabian back to the Anubis House- she felt confident that the worst was behind them.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading! I hate ending stories, so the ending was a tad abrupt but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing- I felt it was getting too long for anyone's attention span.**

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**Reviews on the story are REALLY appreciated. (Seriously, I take every one to heart) Thanks for all those who have reviewed already.**

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**PS- I need to flaunt a little… In the real episode (that came out tonight 1/31) Rufus WAS attempting to trade Patricia for a vile of suspicious liquid- and I'm so proud that I totally called that!) **


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